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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24734692">Language of Flowers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aravenclaw4/pseuds/roonilwazlib'>roonilwazlib (Aravenclaw4)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Day 12: The Language of Flowers, Day 6: Crime Detectives, F/M, Gen, Inspired by Hannibal, Rated for Blood &amp; Gore, SasuHina Month 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:13:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,774</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24734692</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aravenclaw4/pseuds/roonilwazlib</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Let me introduce you to our new recruit. She just transferred here from the headquarters in Hokkaido." </p><p>"Hyuuga Hinata," she smiled uncertainly.</p><p>He gave her a nod. "Uchiha Sasuke."</p><p>They awkwardly shook hands. Sasuke pretended that he didn't see Kakashi's questioning glance.</p><p>Somewhere in the back of his mind, he got a bad feeling about this.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hyuuga Hinata/Uchiha Sasuke</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Language of Flowers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm late, but here it is. I decided to make this a combination of prompts. This is inspired by Hannibal, but not everything's gonna be the same. I don't know where I'm going with this but hope you guys still enjoy it :)</p><p>Yellow roses &amp; iris- represents friendship and new beginnings.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Sasuke woke up to the sound of his phone loudly chiming from his bedside table.</p><p>He opened his bleary eyes and squinted against the harsh sunlight peeking in between the closed curtains, cutting across the darkness of his room. He glanced at the clock. It's 7.30. He cursed. Today is supposed to be his day off, who on Earth would call him this early?!</p><p>He lazily answered the phone without looking at the caller ID. "What do you want?" he grunted.</p><p>"Sasuke, you need to come here. Now." <em>Kakashi</em>. There was an underlying urgency in his voice. Dread began to seep into his bones.</p><p>"There's been another one."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The putrid air hit him like a truck before he even entered the crime scene. </p><p>He ducked under the police tape and walked the narrow alley towards the back where the action happened. He noticed that the place was pretty well kept and clean, despite it being located between abandoned buildings. </p><p>Then, that's when he saw it. </p><p>The scene in front of him could best be described as abnormal. There were so many things wrong with it, so many that were out of place, yet the key elements were still similar; the single rose in place of the heart, the vine of red roses embedded in the neckline, the smile...they were all the same. Except the body belonged to a young male this time, pinned to the wall before him; limbs splayed out and tacked to it by rods, and... Sasuke swore under his breath. Large gaping cuts crisscrossed the unfortunate boy's abdomen, revealing the mass of inner organs, blood pooling on the ground.</p><p>"The killer's getting pretty violent this time," he mentioned when he saw Kakashi walking up to him. </p><p>"Victims name is Kazuya Shinsuke." Kakashi stopped beside him. "24. Worked at a ramen shop in Nerima. He is reported missing a few weeks ago when he didn't come back home for 3 days. A call came from the waste collecter this morning at 7 saying that he found the body when he was trying to do his weekly round."</p><p>Sasuke walked forward to observe the dead body further. "This was about 2 days old, at least. But we couldn't be too sure before the coroner starts to arrive." Sasuke picked up the camera hanging from his neck and took shots of the victim. "Any evidence?" he inquired. </p><p>"Aside from the usual roses, the team found a pair of torn clothes - probably belonged to the victim - wrapped up in a plastic bag deposited near the bottom of the disposal. Suspected that the culprit must've thrown it in there. Once the autopsy's results came out we'll be able to find out more," Kakashi sighed, "Hopefully."</p><p>"Tch." He's getting more and more impatient by the day. Sasuke prided himself on being able to solve cases quickly and knowing the culprit's motives, but this is just ridiculous. Thing is, Sasuke <em>didn't</em> know and it's getting on his nerves. The 4th victim and they still haven't had a single suspect. It also almost seemed that the bastard's mocking their lack of progress and enjoyed toying with them. He gritted his teeth, wanted nothing more than to punch something but swallowed the impulse.</p><p>Just then, Kakashi called somebody over. "Ah, Hinata-san! Come here for a sec."</p><p><em>What?</em>  Sasuke froze. <em>No, it couldn't be.</em></p><p>A woman walked up to them. She was a head shorter than him, wearing a long black coat which Sasuke was confused by considering the hot weather. But what gave it away, was the eyes. He mentally cursed.<em> It's her. What's she doing here? </em> Judging by her expression, he could tell that she is shocked to see him there too.</p><p>His mind couldn't help but bought up unbidden memories of the past. The bloodstains on someones hands. The sound of gunshots. Sasuke looked away.</p><p>"Let me introduce you to our new recruit. She just transferred here from the headquarters in Hokkaido." </p><p>"Hyuuga Hinata," she smiled uncertainly.</p><p>He gave her a nod. "Uchiha Sasuke."</p><p>They awkwardly shook hands. Sasuke pretended that he didn't see Kakashi's questioning glance.</p><p>Somewhere in the back of his mind, he got a bad feeling about this.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Turns out he would find out sooner than he expected.</p><p>"I have assigned another detec-."</p><p>"I thought we already established that I work alone," Sasuke cut him off, already irritated by this news.</p><p>The Head of the Criminal Investigation unit, Morino Ibiki, and one of the few people - besides Kakashi - that Sasuke respected, reclined back in his chair, placing both of his elbows on the armrest, lacing his fingers together while he gave Sasuke a considering look. "Sasuke, you may be one of our greatest out there but we're dealing with a complicated case and an unpredictable and notorious murderer here. It's best if another person joined in."</p><p>"I'm up for the challenge."</p><p>Ibiki almost rolled his eyes at that, used to this already. "Consider having a partner, then. She's rather excellent at what she does so she'll be able to help you."</p><p>Sasuke scoffed. "I don't need any help." </p><p>"Your partner just transferred here from Hokkaido." Wait. "And has been assigned this case together with you," Ibiki continued on, ignoring him, "She already accepted the offer so you guys will be working together, whether you like it or not." He pinned down Sasuke with a serious gaze. </p><p>"Who are they?" he asked reluctantly. Ibiki gestured towards the folder on his desk. Sasuke cautiously opened it. <em>Oh, heck no</em>. He internally groaned because of course it's <em>her</em> of all people. The one person that he hoped wouldn't be his partner. He's convinced the universe hated him by this point.</p><p>"Why can't it be Nara instead?" At least Sasuke's comfortable working with him and didn't mind his company instead of her when he knew it's gonna be difficult. And, no, he's not avoiding the problem.</p><p>Ibiki raised an eyebrow, his eyes reflecting his curiousity. "Do you know her, Sasuke?"</p><p>"It's none of your business."</p><p>"Well, then, if there's conflict between you two, you both need to settle that immediately. You already know you can't involve your personal feelings when you're doing this job."</p><p>Like that would be easy, considering...Sasuke supposed he should just ignore her, although he knew pretty well that his plan wouldn't work anyway.</p><p>"So how about it?"</p><p>Sasuke sighed. He's gonna hate himself for this. "Fine."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p><br/>
"What do you think?" Ibiki asked. </p><p>They were congregated at Sasuke's office, analysing their notes and what theories they've come up with to date.</p><p>Sasuke ended up giving Hinata the folder containing the evidences they've gathered so far as well as his own notes on them for her to review after he walked out of Ibiki's office last week. She accepted them with a small 'thank you' and that's basically it. It seemed they both agreed on some unspoken rule that they ignore what had happened and just focus on the task at hand. </p><p>"From what I've noticed, the victims themselves all have similar features; the dark hair, dark eyes. All of them are young - in their 20's - and went to uni. From their crime scenes, they all had roses with them, except the vine ones were in different positions each time but the one in the chest stays the same." Her eyes stopped at a picture. She hesitated before saying, "The recent victim, however, felt...different." </p><p>"It <em>felt</em> different?" Ibiki gave her a skeptical look. Sasuke, who tried his best to avoid looking at her, couldn't help but stare.</p><p>Her eyes widened and she quickly amended, "Oh, what I meant by that is they're not the same one that we're dealing with."</p><p>"...I'm not following."</p><p>"The roses," she continued, pulling up photos of the flowers for each victim, "The first three, particularly, weren't roses. I've checked and they're actually red ranunculus flowers. It's easy to mistake them for a rose because they look similar. They still imply the same meaning of love and affection, although...I have a hunch that the fourth flower must be a mistake."</p><p>"A copycat," Sasuke muttered, coming to a realisation.</p><p>Ibiki furrowed his brow, confused. "But the crime scene is identical to the previous ones." Sasuke walked up to the board and observe the photos closely. How the heck did he not notice this before now? "Not necessarily, our killer's much more precise with their cuts. This one's more jagged. Hell, this person's trying to imitate the killer."</p><p>"If that were so, why would they do that?" They went silent, pondering on their thoughts.</p><p>"Perhaps the person may be trying to communicate with them," Hinata quietly said, still looking at the picture. "As a sign of respect or homage of sorts."</p><p>Ibiki sighed exasperatedly. "Great. Our guy's got his own fan now."</p><p>Sasuke could understand the sentiment. <em>This week's just keep on getting better and better. </em></p><p>Just then, Ibiki received a call and answered, looking more annoyed by the second. "I have to leave; urgent business," he glanced at his watch, "Give me updates on the case." Before he left, he gave Hinata a nod. "It's nice to have you here, Hyuuga-san." Hinata smiled at him, but one thing that Sasuke didn't realise until later on was that it didn't reach her eyes.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Sasuke heard a knock on his open door. Hinata stood at the doorway, avoiding his eyes, hands behind her back. He quietly asked her to come in.</p><p>Silence. </p><p>Sasuke was currently reading a document, but his eyes weren't moving across the page. Hinata remained standing and gave his office a sweeping glance.</p><p>After a while, Hinata broke the silence. "I apologise. They didn't tell me it was gonna be you at first. And now we're gonna have to work together, huh?" she softly contemplated.</p><p>The atmosphere turned grim all of a sudden.</p><p>Sasuke looked up from the paper that he's "reading" and properly took a look at her since the first time they met that morning. She seemed...different, actually he noticed that before but Sasuke couldn't put his finger on what it was. Either way, it's not any of his business and he didn't intend to find out.</p><p>"Here, take this," she said. In her hands were a vase full of a mixture of yellow roses and irises. "This is for you. I meant to give them to you last week but...," she cleared her throat.</p><p>"Still obsessed with flowers, Hyuuga?" he faintly smirked. Hinata gave him a bitter smile in return. He took them from her hands, gazing down at the contrast between purple and yellow. </p><p>"We have to make it this time."</p><p>"I know."</p><p> </p>
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